The Heroine's Crush

Hanazono High School was abuzz with talks of Airin Seira’s uproarious return.

The students were treating her as if she had come back from the dead. Yet in reality, she acted far too different from the real thing. The incident in the hallway was so ridiculous it should have been an obvious sign.

As it happened, the self-proclaimed villainess had spurred Yume to, more or less, confess to Kaien. 

Seira was clearly preening herself while she was reduced into a blushing, stuttering mess. It was then that Kaien understood.  Yume had tried to cover it up, greatly flustered, but he was not dense. 

“K-Kinryuji, I…! Um, t-this is…”

“Ho, ho, ho~ Well then, my job here is done,” Seira had declared amid Yume’s nervous breakdown before walking out of the scene, leaving Kaien and the rest utterly bewildered.

Not the least bit pleased by this turn of events, Kaien decided to confront Seira during lunch.

Even though everyone was talking about her, she was nowhere to be found. She was not on the bench where she often ate alone. She was not in the classroom and the cafeteria either.

“Miss Seiraaa! Where are you?!”

Apparently, Kaien was not the only one searching for Seira. Her clique was on the lookout, too.

‘Could she have gone somewhere else to escape from them?’

That made sense. Going by their previous interaction, she must have wanted nothing to do with those girls.

With that in mind, he headed to the most secluded spot in school—the rooftop. It turned out to be the right choice. 

“Heh, heh, heh… Now, I just need to do this-”

“What are you up to, Airin?”

“Pugyah!!!”

A familiar object flew through the air—her journal.

His eyes trailed after it, then bulged wide open as it landed right below him. On the page was a newly drawn scene of him and Yume kissing.

He glared at Seira, who was now scrambling to get her notebook back. It seemed he was wrong with his assumption that she went to the rooftop to hide.

“Are you here to secretly indulge in this obscenity again?”

Seira gasped, offended. “Don’t call it like that! I’ll have you know this is the greatest masterpiece I’ve made yet!”

“Quit it already. It's straight up weird, and it never even happened.”

“Well, this is how that thing earlier appeared to me, at least,” she retorted as she picked up her journal. “And once you confess, this vision of mine shall then come to life!”

Kaien frowned and crossed his arms. “I already told you my side. Besides, Sakura didn’t really say anything. It could be that she was simply embarrassed.”

“Actions speak louder than words, silly~ In shoujo, that’s how the female lead acts toward the male lead every time. How else is the audience going to know she has a crush on him? She needs to blush and stutter for all she’s worth!”

“And how does the guy react to that exactly?”

“It depends. Sometimes, he gets all shy and becomes as much of a pining idiot as the female lead. Other times, he denies feeling anything, but when they get together, he becomes a total manbeast who seems to be always in heat-”

“Alright, enough.” He put a hand up, thinking he’d heard something he shouldn’t have. “No matter what you say, we’re not going to be a couple. I’m sure of how I feel. If you continue with this, it’ll be like you are forcing love on us.”

Nothing could be done if Yume did have a crush on Kaien.

That might have sounded harsh, and he felt bad that he found out this way, though it was no fault of his. If she were to confess, of course, he would still respond to it with utmost sincerity, even when he could not return it.

“Oh? Continue with this?” Seira grinned, undeterred. “So, you expect me to keep it up, then? Very well!”

Despite much insistence, nothing got through the thick-headed girl, much to his chagrin.

---

The weeks following Seira’s comeback were some of the worst that Kaien had in school.

“How bold of you, Sakura Yume. You dare stand before me without shame?”

“Know your place! Someone like you could never compare to me!”

“Oh, dear. Look how pathetic you are, shaking and crying all the time.”

Nearly every morning, he would be greeted with a smug-faced Seira and a teary-eyed Yume.

Whether it be in the classroom or the corridor, it was the same scene. The acting improved by the day, though it still lapsed sometimes to thuggish taunts, such as, “I’m taking your gym shoes!” Whenever that happened, it felt more like watching a delinquent rather than a villainess.

Since Kaien was with Minato most of the time, he would let him handle the situation. 

That was enough to ruin Seira’s efforts. It was Kaien who was supposed to come to help, after all. With someone else doing it for Yume, there was no chance of their relationship progressing at all.

“Hey! I've got her bag here! Hey!” Seira shouted at Kaien as he walked past her and Yume in the lockers’ area.

‘Ah, Minato’s not here... Great.’

“M-Miss Airin, p-p-please give it back-”

“Hear that? She’s begging! She’s begging!”

‘If anything, you're the one who's pleading right now.’ Kaien sighed and turned around to speak to the desperate Seira, but stopped as he noticed Yume immediately brightening up. ‘She…looks really happy.’

“Perfect! Now then, Kinryuji Kaien-”

“Hey, Airin,” he cut her off. “About that bag…”

“Ah, yes. If you want it back for Sakura Yume, you have to-”

“Do me a favor and hit yourself with it. In the head. One hundred times.”

“...Eh?”

He left without another word.

What he had intended to do was reprimand Seira like he used to. But Yume’s look of genuine joy had given him pause. 

It gave the impression that she had been waiting for him to save her.

‘Maybe there’s another way to end this charade,’ Kaien thought grimly. ‘Airin is only bothering Sakura for one reason. She believes being the knight in shining armor to a damsel in distress will get me to realize my feelings for her. Sakura also appears to be anticipating this outcome that Airin is striving for.'

However, if Kaien told Yume the truth that Seira refused to accept, this would all cease. But Yume had not confessed, and he was not so audacious he would act like she had and just reject her. At this point, the only thing he could do was wait for Seira to exhaust herself and admit defeat. 

Little did Kaien know that Seira, on the contrary, was about to step up her game. 

It was the next day. The usual noise in the cafeteria at noon had thinned into low, restless murmurs.

The air pulled taut with tension. Every student's attention was fixed to the center, where a clear path had formed between the tables. A pair of heels clicked sharply against the floor, and the room shifted as the figure passed. 

Airin Seira. 

She was making her way toward Yume. Kaien checked on her and saw that she was with the boys this time, which was fortunate. She would be fine with Nao and the others around.

Kaien could rest easy, so he remained seated with his friends at their table.

'This is pretty new, though. Airin always shows up like this in the morning and disappears from noon until school is over. What sort of trouble is she bringing now?'

"Miss Airin."

The words did not come from Yume, but rather, from the student council president. Nao stepped forward, facing Seira head-on.

"I have warned you many times, have I not? You are not to lay a hand on Miss Sakura ever again," so had the most powerful student on campus dictated, almost like a ruler's decree.

The school's queen bee all but smiled, her gaze glinting with mischief before sweeping across the room. "Am I the bad guy once more? Oh, how misunderstood poor little me is~"

"Um, M-Miss Airin," Yume spoke up nervously from behind Nao, who assured her, "Don't worry, Miss Sakura. Let me take care of this."

"B-But..."

"It's okay."

"My, what an adorable pair~ Makes me kinda jealous. Oh, right!" Seira lit up, then turned in Kaien's direction with practiced poise. 

'Huh? What is she-'

“Kaien~! There you are, darling~!"

'HUHHH?!!!'

For some unknown reason, Airin Seira was calling out to Kaien with a sickeningly sweet voice and a soft, loving smile.